This invention relates to the preparation of cis-9-tricosene.
Cis-9-tricosene is a known sex pheromone for the common housefly (Musca domestica L.). It can be found in the cuticle and feces of the female housefly and it attracts the male fly, thus facilitating sexual reproduction.
Sex pheromones have been employed in a variety of ways for control of insect populations. For example, traps baited with appropriate pheromone compounds or mixtures can be employed to monitor for the presence of particular insects in a field. In this way, most efficient use of pesticides or other conventional means of insect control can be applied.
Traps as just described can also be used on a larger scale such that all insect pests in a given area may be lured to a trap. This technique is most effective where low-level insect populations exist. Such a trap fulfills the dual functions of monitoring for the presence of insect infestation and removing essentially all insects from the infested area, so long as the treatment program commences when insect populations are low.
The most promising means of controlling insect populations with pheromones is by permeating the atmosphere with the particular pheromone compound or mixture to which the offending insect responds. With sufficiently high levels of pheromone in the air, the searching insect becomes confused in its search for a mating partner. Since the insect cannot distinguish the artificially released pheromone from that released by a potential sex partner, propagation is greatly reduced as the likelihood of a successful encounter with a mating partner is greatly reduced.
In order to make this compound widely avilable for use in insect control, economic large scale synthetic conversion processes must be developed. While synthetic routes for the preparations of cis-9-tricosene have been disclosed in the prior art, the known routes suffer from the disadvantages of requiring multiple reaction steps with consequent low overall product yield, consumption of large quantities of reagents which do not contribute to the final product structure, use of expensive or specialized catalysts, and the like.